Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

English

Advisor/Mentor

Jensen, Toni L.

Committee Member

Hurt, Bryan M.

Second Committee Member

Fawkes, Jen

Keywords

Cape Cod; Fiction; Creative writing

Abstract

Set in a wild and ethereal Cape Cod, Oyster Pond is the story of adolescent Dinah Wall, the youngest member of one of Chatham's oldest fishing families. Told by her adult self in pursuit of a deeper understanding of her father's suicide, the retrospective narrative of his final years is interwoven with the family legend of the great whaler who cursed his descendants to drown. Still living in the original Wall home, the working-class family is plagued by the curse. But when Auntie Carol adopts Sean, a popular but troubled boy a year ahead of Dinah, Dinah questions the validity of the curse. She and Sean grow close, and she convinces Sean to help save her father, but it only puts Sean in danger as the next male heir.

Available for download on Thursday, July 16, 2026

Included in

Fiction Commons

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